


I Swear It

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Febuwhump 2021 [14]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, F/M, FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Guilt, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Whump, Hiccup Whump, Hurt Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Self-Blame, descriptions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29592993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Febuwhump Day 14. Set during Httyd 2, diverges after Hiccup and Astrid leave Berk to find Eret. Hiccup does end up meeting with Drago earlier than he should and Eret regrets bringing him to him. On some island, Astrid tends to Hiccup's wounds.
Relationships: Astrid Hofferson & Stormfly, Eret & Astrid Hofferson, Eret & Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Stormfly, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Series: AHeartForStories' Febuwhump 2021 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137413
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	I Swear It

**Author's Note:**

> Febuwhump prompt: "I didn't mean it"
> 
> Ever before Febuwhump started, I knew this one was going to have Eret in it. I don't know why, this one just spoke "Eret" to me. And Hiccup whump always ties things together.
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated.  
> Enjoy!

"I didn't mean it."

Those are the first words spoken in hours and Astrid isn't sure what to feel when she hears them.

She wants to be angry and maybe a tiny part of her is, but rationally, she knows Eret isn't any more to blame than she and even Hiccup are.

They are on some island after escaping from Drago on dragonback. They have no idea the kind of fate that awaits Eret's crew after he was taken by Toothless during their escape and neither do they know what will happen to Stormfly, who got left behind.

Hiccup couldn't ride his own dragon, he wasn't awake for the escape and is still unconscious now, and that meant Astrid had to take over. Stormfly, her brave Nadder, made sure that they could get away, knowing she would have to be left behind in the process. Eret respects her immensely for that.

It hurts and angers Astrid, but she saw the kind of hide Drago proudly wears and she knows Stormfly did, too. It was Night Fury skin. Leaving Toothless was not an option.

"I know you didn't." Astrid tells Eret, finally responding to the confession of his intentions after a long contemplative moment of silence.

What else is she supposed to say?

She's kneeling by Hiccup, who lies in front of her on a fur Toothless still had stashed away in a saddlebag in the event that he and his Rider needed to stay the night somewhere out there in the wild.

Eret is standing at a distance, not daring to approach Astrid, Hiccup, or the Night Fury curled around the latter and only allowing only the former near. He's still glaring at Eret now, though he doesn't growl and he seems quite content just having the human at a distance.

"How is he?" Eret asks as Astrid is the one allowed to see and treat her injured betrothed, or that is what he guesses these two are to one another from context clues seen and heard the past couple of days.

Instead of answering him directly, Astrid looks down at Hiccup. The soaked cloth she's been using has cleaned most of the blood off, but all that did was reveal the horrible bruisings forming underneath.

_"I will enjoy tearing you apart."_ That is what Drago told Hiccup upon being introduced to the Archipelago's Dragon Master, the best the world has ever seen.

Astrid still stands by this, Hiccup doesn't need intimidation to touch a dragon's heart. And she's certain the loyalty he garners from them is a hel of a lot more permanent than whatever Drago's got going on until the dragons inevitably break free from their fear of him.

It happened to the Flyers, whose Singetails abandoned them as soon as they could. And it happened with the Red Death, when her nest got invaded and the dragons trapped by her tyranny took off.

Astrid is certain the same will happen to Drago's infamous dragon army when Hiccup and the Dragon Riders inevitably set it free and save Berk from his threat.

But it's not like Drago hasn't done a number on Hiccup.

He acted like any other brute Hiccup's had to deal with before. All muscles and power and brawn and brutality. Drago is almost like Ryker in that regard, if Ryker had Krogan's kind of sadism.

Because what he did to make Hiccup scream as loud as he did was inhumane.

Astrid's gaze moves down to his left leg, where his prosthetic is missing, where Drago did the worst damage despite being an amputee himself. Or maybe that's just it and he understands the kind of pain that can be dealt to a stump.

It is a bloody mess that she'd quickly wrapped up, but the dressings are already bled through and she fears what Gothi's diagnosis may be.

"He'll be okay. Hiccup has a way of bouncing back, this time won't be any different." Astrid finally answers Eret after another long bout of silence. Her gaze briefly settles on Hiccup's bruised face, his breathing a concerning rattle.

Raising an eyebrow, Eret sneaks a peek at Hiccup, watches as Astrid carefully turns a deeply black and blue arm over in her hold.

He finds himself doubting that someone like Hiccup could ever just "bounce back" from something like this.

Admittedly, Hiccup greatly surprised him by holding out for as long as he did before letting out his first scream, but in the end, Drago has won again.

Astrid sees this differently, apparently. While Eret sees a definitive defeat, she sees a setback. An enormous setback, but a setback nonetheless.

Hiccup is only a little worse for wear than when the bounty had been placed on his head and he'd been manhandled by every bounty hunter in the Archipelago that got their hands on him, beaten, dragged, knocked unconscious, followed by being dragged around by a chain around his neck.

Or when the Hunters riled up the Submaripper Hiccup was in the process of freeing, leading to the diving bell being damaged, and Hiccup nearly drowning to death at the bottom of the ocean, causing him to get terribly ill and Gothi to confine him to his bed.

He had been in terrible shape both times and both have left a significant psychological impact on him. This will, too, but that doesn't mean Hiccup can't be okay.

Astrid stares him in the face, sees the bruises as well as the terrible swelling of his right eye. Gothi should be taking a look at him, but she needs to be sure Hiccup can even be moved before she takes the risk of traveling back to Berk. She already took that risk once when they escaped, she'd rather not take it again until she's certain he can make the trip.

As she puts his broken arm back down, Hiccup groans as he comes back to the land of the conscious. Guilt nags at Eret's heart, listening to that groan of pain.

"Hey there, Babe." Astrid talks to him in case he can hear her and Toothless looks down at him as well, purring.

"Hey," Hiccup replies back, face scrunched up and voice hoarse, most likely from the screaming. "Where's Drago?"

"He's not here, we managed to escape." Astrid lets him know, conveniently leaving out Stormfly as she expects him to black out soon.

He can worry about Stormfly later, when he can afford it. She lays a hand on his chest, above his beating his heart, and Toothless softly purs down at him.

"We lost Stormfly, didn't we?" Despite this, he still asks and Astrid isn't exactly surprised. As such, there's no use in denying it either.

"Yes, we did." There's a sadness to her tone that only another Dragon Rider will understand and Hiccup's uninjured hand takes hers, feeling her pain. His gaze settles on her sadly.

"We'll get her back, I swear it." Hiccup swears to her and Eret wonders how he can just do that after what Drago's done to him, after the beating and the torture he's put him through. He's pretty sure a knee isn't supposed to bend that way.

Though Astrid has put it back in place, apparently that particular knee has a history of dislocating, Eret cannot unsee it.

"I know you will." Astrid says, just as confident and she finds comfort in the knowledge that they'll get her dragon back. And if she finds out Drago has hurt her in any way, she'll personally make him pay for it.

Eret can see Hiccup take a deep breath, ribs not as cooperative as he would've liked, and it's a fearful one. So he did catch a fright, it just won't stop him from getting the Deadly Nadder back.

Hiccup is just getting stranger by the minute, is he? Maybe Astrid's trust in him holds some weight.

She caresses his cheek, the least injured one, and Hiccup's eyes close, comforted by her presence. These two love each other so much, made worse by Toothless' insistence to nuzzle his nose with Hiccup's forehead. It's a gesture he would've returned if he weren't in so much pain, if he could move at all.

They love him so much. And Hiccup is, by all accounts, a brave, kind, overzealous man. And young, so young, though Eret himself is only four or five years older and even then he's being generous with his estimation. Hiccup can easily pass for someone who's 19 or even 18 years old.

Guilt swallows Eret for the so maniest time. He didn't mean to get him in trouble.

When Hiccup suggested Eret take him and Astrid as payment to replace the lost shipment of dragons, he told him he was crazy for even suggesting such a thing, telling him he wasn't going to be riding on a dragon any time soon and that he and his crew weren't going to put up with Dragon Riders and their dragons either.

But Hiccup had insisted and he kept insisting when Eret told him again how bad of an idea this was and then again. Something about how much trouble and bloodshed could be avoided if he managed to change people's minds before war broke out.

"Oh, Eret?" Hiccup surprises Eret by speaking up again, though he believed him out.

"We're going to get your crew out, too." And not just because Hiccup's come to like them a bit. Whatever Drago's got in store for them, he was absolutely planning on executing Eret. They don't deserve that kind of fate in his eyes.

Again, he surprises the other.

"Hiccup, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of this to happen, I swear it." Eret tells him and Hiccup's eyes open for a moment to glance at him. There's a frown on his face, but a neutral one, not one of anger or malice.

"I know." His eyes close again and this time, Hiccup does fall unconscious again.


End file.
